London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Retreat - review

A young husband (Cillian Murphy), whose wife (Thandie Newton) has had a miscarriage, takes her off for a break to the island cottage the couple once visited.

The idyll isn't exactly smooth. She isn't really up to it, and what makes matters a great deal worse is the arrival of a soldier (Jamie Bell) who claims that the outside world is about to be obliterated by an unstoppable virus.

We aren't quite sure whether he is heralding a major disaster or just a bit of a psycho. But things, in Carl Tibbetts' taut thriller, go from bad to worse on the uninhabited island, a long way from help or any real news.

To make this slightly unlikely story work you need a cast that's up for it, and all three principals are good enough to cope, especially Bell, whose performance could well send shivers down most spines. If there is a weakness, it lies in the screenplay.

We also get a well-shot and directed telling of a claustrophobic tale which turns from thriller to horror story by the end. Only if you can't suspend your disbelief will it fail to keep you watching.